January 12, 2012 • TRAVELLER • 3
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NEWS
Upcoming Deactivation Challenges 49ers by T. Anthony Bell Senior Writer/Special Projects
The 49th Quartermaster Group is faced with a number of challenges as it prepares to deactivate its headquarters element later this year. Fort Lee’s only active duty U.S. Army Forces Command unit, the 49th is scheduled for inactivation on Oct. 1. The inactivation includes HHC, 49th QM Group, the 109th QM Company and 16th QM Co. Three other companies and a detachment will remain. An element of the Reserve Component will take over as the higher headquarters. Lt. Col. Marc D. Thoreson, the group executive officer, said the unit is actively dealing with a number of issues related to the inactivation in addition to performing its normal training and deployment missions. “First, there’s the personnel piece,” he said. “Obviously, we have to ensure that the Soldiers and their Families have as much predictability as possible as we move forward. They need to know whether they will be moved elsewhere on the installation, moved to a sister unit or whether they will have to PCS.” To fulfill its obligations to Soldiers and their Families, Thoreson said the unit is undergoing a thorough scrub of its personnel
PHOTO BY T. ANTHONY BELL
Members of the 16th Quartermaster Company, 530th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 49th QM Group, assemble a shower unit during training last year. The 16th is one of several 49th Group units facing deactivation later this year. files to identify and prepare those Soldiers for the mentioned possibilities. Secondly, the 49th is busy inventorying and inspecting vehicles and other equipment it has to turn in according to its scheduled personnel losses.
“Because we are a unique unit, we have a lot of unique equipment,” said Thoreson of his unit, the Army’s only active duty petroleum and water group when it was reactivated in 1993. “As such it takes a little longer to process. If we had MRAPs, it would
go pretty fast, but we have a lot of fueling equipment and some obsolete vehicles so that process is a little slower. We still have a mission so we have to balance turn-in with our mission as a brigade.” Lastly, Thoreson said the inactivation will require some of the unit’s various missions to be consolidated or realigned. “For those units that are inactivating, we have to find a way to realign that mission with either another unit that is still here or coordinate with the installation to make sure those functions are transferred in some form or fashion,” he said. The 49th provides honor guards for various events, performs post clean-up duties and supports the Quartermaster School’s Aerial Delivery and Field Services Department. It also supports the fuel and water training facilities at Fort Pickett and Fort Story, respectively. When the inactivation is completed, only the 108th QM Co., 612th Movement Control Detachment, 54th QM Co. and 111th QM Co. will remain. All units currently fall under the umbrella of the 49th’s 530th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion. Its command element, HHC, 530th CSSB, is slated for deactivation Oct. 1 as well. SEE 49TH, PAGE 11
Fort Lee USO Center Celebrates First Anniversary by Kimberly K. Fritz Family/Community Life Reporter
The Fort Lee USO Center flung open its doors and welcomed military, Family and community members into its warm and relaxing environment Wednesday to celebrate its first anniversary here. It’s what they do at the USO – serve service members – and in the last year, the center has seen more than 50,000 of them stop by to use the computer lab or play a favorite game, catch up on movies or just relax as if at home. Kasinda Thomas, the Fort Lee USO director, said they’ve built
up their volunteer base, expanded their operating hours and spread the word about the USO’s mission, which is to enhance the quality of life of U.S. Armed Forces personnel and their Families. She also said there is still much to do to serve this community of military members. “There are many people in the Central Virginia area who don’t know we have a USO at Fort Lee and at the Richmond International Airport,” Thomas said. “I continue to network in the surrounding communities to let them know what we do and how they can help.”
The USO offers a variety of assistance and outreach that fits the needs of military members and their Families here. Some of these programs include emergency lodging, mobile outreach, orientation, information and referral, special holiday programs, summer concerts and military appreciation days. “Our programs help us to offer a deployment kit for military children with deployed service members that help them cope with deployment,” Thomas said. “We have the Sesame Street DVD set to help military children understand and deal with the changes in their
homes, and we offer a reading program where we connect service members with their child during the deployment by videotaping them reading a book to their child. We mail it to the child after they deploy. We also open that program to service members separated from their children while attending school.” Thomas said it’s a special way for Families to stay connected. The staff and volunteers at the center are looking forward to the future. “I see many things on our horizon,” she said. “I’m developing a few new programs that will
help bring the local community and the military closer together. I see more people interested in giving their time to volunteer at their local USO, and I look forward to making many more people aware of who we are and what our mission is.” The Fort Lee USO is open Tuesday-Thursday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and after 6 p.m. by appointment only, Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday hours are for advanced individual training students only. The center is also open most Monday holidays.